UK fires blaze after hottest ever April
Heathland blazes continue to rage in areas as widespread as Berkshire, Lancashire and the Scottish Highlands after the UK recorded its hottest April on record.
In Berkshire firefighters have been working since 27 April in the Swinley Forest area, where a number of fires broke out. For Channel 4 News, Jane Deith reports that the fires, fanned by winds, were moving at speeds of up to 45mph yesterday.
A spokesperson for the Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service told Channel 4 News the affected land is woodland, brush and undergrowth and belongs mainly to the Forestry Commission and the Crown Estate. There are small fires in this area every year, but after this year it could be decades before the forest is healed.
Lancashire has seen moorland fires in Belmont, near Bolton, and in Ormskirk and Bacup, although Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service says no major new fires have been reported since yesterday. Firemen have even had to plunder a reservoir for water to cool down the moorlands.
The swirling winds meant the fires constantly changed direction, endangering firefighters. Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson
An LFRS spokesperson warned that the fires in Lancashire are likely to continue until it rains heavily. “Hopefully the winds are dying down a little,” he told Channel 4 News.
“The strong, swirling winds were causing a problem at the weekend, and it meant the fires were constantly changing direction. It endangered the firefighters and stopped them from getting on top of the job.”
The advice for people walking on the Lancashire moors is to be extra vigilant and to report any fires they see. Smokers should discard cigarettes safely.
In the Scottish Highlands wildfires which started over the bank holiday weekend are still raging. Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service has said there is “a continuing severe risk of further fires occurring”. On the Queen’s Balmoral estate a large area of heather and gorse went up in flames.
HIFRS have reiterated the warning that wildfires can quickly change direction, particularly in windy conditions.
In Northern Ireland hundreds of acres of land have been destroyed by fires burning over the weekend in counties Down, Armagh and Tyrone.
The Environment Agency has refused to rule out a hosepipe ban later this year.
Police are investigating reports of a man seen with a petrol can near a gorse fire in the Mourne Mountains, in County Down. Elsewhere, the Police Service of Northern Ireland reported two youths had been spotted lighting fires in south Armagh.
And arsonists may have fanned the flames in Swinley forest, too. Today the police arrested two teenagers on suspicion of arson.
Rainfall for England and Wales in April was just 21 per cent of the expected levels. The Met Office has confirmed that last month was the hottest April on record and the 11th driest since records began. This followed a dry March in which less than half the normal rainfall fell in the UK.
An Environment Agency spokesperson told Channel 4 News it had no plans at this stage to advise water companies to initiate a hosepipe ban, although she refused to rule out the possibility a ban later this year.